Safety

Colorado Law Enforcement Officers Honored as Traffic Safety Heroes

April 20, 2012 - Traffic Safety - Denver – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is recognizing several Colorado law enforcement agencies and individual officers for their outstanding dedication to traffic safety in 2011.

“The work these officers, troopers and deputies do to enforce traffic safety laws are often overlooked, but they should be credited for saving lives on Colorado roadways each and every day,” said Glenn Davis, manager of impaired driving programs at CDOT. “It is CDOT’s privilege to be able to honor them for their hard work, which is truly making an impact on reducing serious injuries crashes and needless deaths on our highways.”

CDOT provides grants to statewide law enforcement agencies to support them in conducting overtime enforcement of DUI laws for the “Heat Is On” campaign, as well as enforcing seat belt and child passenger safety laws during “Click It or Ticket” enforcement periods. The programs are having an impact on the number of traffic fatalities in Colorado, which declined to a record low in 2011, with 443 deaths. That is a 40% percent decline since 2002, when 743 people were killed on Colorado roadways. Seat belt use has also increased during this time, from 72% in 2002 to 82% in 2011. And the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes declined 53% during the same ten year period.

Awards were given to law enforcement agencies in Southern Colorado on April 11th in Alamosa, and in Grand Junction on April 18th. And a similar awards recognition event is planned for Denver on May 2nd.

The following agencies and individuals are being recognized as Traffic Safety Heroes:

Impaired Driving Enforcement

Top Agencies (Metro Category)

Denver Police Department – 1,451 DUI arrests

Colorado Springs Police Department – 753 DUI arrests

Larimer County Sheriff’s Office – 396 DUI arrests

Lakewood Police Department – 359 DUI arrests

CSP Troop 2B Colorado Springs – 343 DUI arrests

Top Agencies (Rural Category)

Avon Police Department – 141 DUI arrests

Durango Police Department – 108 DUI arrests

CSP Troop 5B Alamosa – 98 DUI arrests

Glenwood Springs Police Department – 82 DUI arrests

Alamosa Police Department – 76 DUI arrests

Seat Belt Enforcement

Top Agencies (Metro Category)

Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office - 1,021 citations

CSP Troop 4A Fruita – 726 citations

Aurora Police Department - 677 citations

Lakewood Police Department – 460 citations

CSP Troop 1D Commerce City – 402 citations

Top Agencies (Rural Category)

CSP Troop 4C Glenwood Springs – 433 citations

CSP Troop 5B Alamosa – 352 citations

CSP Troop 4B Craig – 162 citations

CSP Trop 2C Lamar – 157 citations

Monte Vista Police Department – 149 citations

Top Individual Law Enforcement Awards

During 2011, the following law enforcement officers wrote a combined 3,746 seat belt citations and made 1,660 DUI arrests.